REIMAGINING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE IN IRELAND A competent system and a public good
T
he early childhood sector in Ireland has undergone constant and substantial policy changes for almost two decades, from John Coolahan’s 1998 ‘Report on the National Forum for Early Childhood Education’, which led to the publication of the white paper ‘Ready to Learn’ and the National Childcare Strategy, to the publication of the long-awaited Early Years Strategy in November 2018.1 Like in other countries, policy developments in Ireland have responded to, and reflect, wider societal and socioeconomic changes. Ireland has seen two decades of unprecedented efforts to develop, expand, and sustain better quality for children and families in a highly fragmented sector, with many actors following diverse agendas and pursuing often contradictory interests. Despite these efforts, major challenges remain unresolved in four key areas: governance of the system at all levels, resourcing and funding, fragmentation of services, and over-reliance on a supposed ‘market’. Together, these result in a system that is not fit for purpose: it denies children’s rights to high-quality early childhood experiences, neglects families’ rights to reliable and affordable services, perpetuates unacceptable working conditions for educators, and fails to address the needs of a fast-changing and diverse society. How can these challenges be addressed? Here I argue that radical culture change is necessary, inevitable, and possible. I offer a preliminary appreciation and analysis of the government’s recently published early years strategy First 5, and lay out steps towards an early childhood system based on rights, oriented by values of democracy and diversity, and understood as a public good and a public responsibility. SETTING THE SCENE I have noted the substantial policy changes in Ireland’s early childhood sector this century. As recently as 2004, the OECD found that ‘National policy for the early education and care of young children in Ireland is still in its initial stages’ (OECD, 2004). The report concluded that much needs to be done: Significant energies and funding will need to be invested in the field to create a system in tune with the needs of a full employment economy and with new understandings of how young children develop and learn.
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IRELAND’S YEARBOOK OF EDUCATION 2018-2019 CHAPTER 1 EARLY CHILDHOOD
Prof Matthias Urban Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Education, Dublin City University
